The expensive Swiss station clock

Swiss iPad users were amazed on this Thursday morning, September 20, 2012: Overnight, Apple released the long-awaited update of its operating system to version iOS 6. One of the innovations was an alarm clock – and to everyone’s surprise, the clock design of the classic Swiss station clock. Since their introduction in 1947, thousands of these clocks have adorned all train stations in the world SBBand it is considered a classic of modern industrial design far beyond national borders.

The revolutionary watch was already designed in 1944 by the engineer and self-made designer Hans Hilfiker. Originally the precision mechanic Hilfiker, born in 1901, worked at the ETH Studied electrical engineering and telecommunications. After that, a professional adventurous life started in South America, where helpers for the Siemens belong Albiswerk Zurich advised the communications troops of the Argentine army, built telephone exchanges and trained military personnel, built a telephone line through the river and wetlands of the Río Paraná, planned the laying of a submarine cable through the delta of the Río de la Plata and last but not least the takeover of an Argentine operating company under attack. But because these plans fell through, Hilfiker returned to Switzerland at the age of 30.

In 1932 Hilfiker took up a position as an engineer in the SBB– Construction Department III. The job he got after being promoted to head of department was quite ambitious: SBB wanted a new, extremely robust and reliable station clock that would not only indicate the exact time, but even become part of the national identity as the figurehead of the federal railways. Hilfiker’s answer was a radically reduced dial that was easy to read at any time of the day or night thanks to the interior lighting.

The rest is history: to date, almost 5000 adorn the watch manufacturer Moser-Baer AG manufactured in Sumiswald and controlled by about 760 master clocks in all Swiss station buildings. It wasn’t just the clock – Hilfiker invented non-stop: he developed a new type of gantry crane for loading heavy goods from trucks onto railway carriages, downright futuristic platform roofs for the Winterthur-Grüze train station, a timetable projector for the Zurich train station and a under monumental service building for catenary maintenance in the suburban train station of Zurich. His best-known invention, however, was to remain the station clock.

Hilfiker’s 1944 minimalist design was a radical departure from the ornate dials of the Art Nouveau period: white background; an hour and minute division of tight black rectangles; no numbers; Strictly geometric, elegantly tapered dial bars – and last but not least, a sleek red second hand with a red disk, reminiscent of the stationmaster’s trowel, ensuring that the clock can be read accurately to the second, even on large scales. distance.

Hilfiker’s design was so elegant, timeless and functional that today almost all industrial clocks and station clocks in the world are based on it. the SBB– Clock has it in London Design Museum and in Museum of Modern ArtNew York, and since 1986 even available as a miniature for the wrist, produced by the Swiss watch manufacturer mundane.

“I invented a clock where you were after two”, sang the Bernese singer-songwriter Mani Matter in 1966. Hilfiker’s station clock also stops again and again: every time the second hand reaches twelve, it pauses for a moment until the minute hand jumps forward and the red disc picks up speed again. The reason for this peculiar second stop lies in technology. In 1947, when the new Hilfiker clock was introduced, synchronization with the second was not yet possible; the master clocks responsible for the control gave an electrical impulse only once per minute, exactly to zero seconds, guaranteeing the accuracy of all connected clocks.

Because the SBBwatch should still show the seconds, Hilfiker reached into his bag of tricks and left the red hand powered by a regular electric motor. It was not particularly accurate and therefore had to be set a little too quickly, so that the seconds hand always arrived at twelve one to two seconds early to wait for the minute signal. Even if a second precise synchronization were now possible without a doubt: The SBB-Train station clock has indeed become a national designation, and that’s how the clocks are ticking SBB to this day, as in Hilfiker’s time, stop seconds included at twelve o’clock.

That Apple The integration of Hilfiker’s watch into the iPad operating system in 2012 was a coup: superior design has always been a hallmark of the California tech giant. However, there was a catch: the appearance of the classic watch is strictly protected by law. Indeed, the SBB were quite flattered that their clocks followed the tablets of the house Apple managed, but unauthorized use of the design was a nuisance.

Federal railroads arrived in Cupertino, tough negotiations were conducted behind the scenes, and Hilfiker’s watch finally disappeared with the next OS version without a murmur from the iPads. On top of that: Apple agreed to pay a fine, the amount of which was never officially disclosed. An investigation by the Swiss press showed that it would be about 20 million francs.